Web assembly for making and maintaining a contour of a baseball or softball glove

ABSTRACT

A web assembly is configured to make and maintain a contour of a baseball or softball glove. The web assembly includes a plurality of horizontal straps including a top strap and a bottom strap mechanically coupled to a plurality of vertical straps including a left durable strap and a right durable strap. A user can wrap the web assembly around the glove and affix the right durable strap to the left durable strap with a hook and loop fastener, and allowing for the straps to deform slightly to make and maintain the contour of the glove.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage filing of International Application No. PCT/US2013/024209, filed Jan. 31, 2013, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/595,420 filed on Feb. 6, 2012. The contents of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates sports equipment. In particular, this relates to material used to form baseball or softball gloves.

The prior art teaches that the best way to form a baseball or softball glove is with a series of straps that can be tightened or loosened independent of one another. This is needlessly time consuming and wrongheaded.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,127 issued to Danz teaches a device to form and maintain a glove shape, comprising, elastic straps mechanically coupled to one another by stitching and a hook and loop fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 6,430,746 issued to Watson teaches a panel member having a plurality of straps where the straps are mechanically coupled to a panel member by a hook and loop fastener. U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,805 issued to Dun teaches a strapping assembly comprising a pair of parallel straps cross connected at their ends with hook and vane cross fasteners. Unlike Danz, Dunn only has fasteners on straps in the parallel direction. None of these devices teach a separately sewn leather or vinyl section. Further each of these devices teaches away from the single unit teaching in the present invention with a needlessly complicated and ineffective plurality of straps.

SUMMARY

A web assembly can be used for making and maintaining a contour of a baseball or softball glove. The web assembly comprises a plurality of horizontal straps comprising a top strap and a bottom strap mechanically coupled to a plurality of vertical straps comprising a left strap and a right strap. A right durable strap and left durable strap are mechanically coupled to at least one horizontal strap where the at least one horizontal strap is further mechanically coupled to the right strap and the left strap. In this manner, a user can wrap the web assembly around the glove and affix the right durable strap to the left durable strap with a hook and loop fastener, and allowing for the straps to deform slightly to make and maintain the contour of the glove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the invention shown in pre-folded configuration and illustrating placement of a glove.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the invention shown in folded configuration and illustrating placement of a glove and a ball.

FIG. 4 is a section detail view of the invention along line 4-4 in FIG. 3

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the invention. Web assembly 24 comprises a plurality of straps 10 laid in a cross sectional pattern with overlapping straps mechanically coupled to cross-stitching 16. The plurality of straps further comprises a plurality of horizontal straps 10 and a plurality of vertical straps 10.

The plurality of horizontal straps 10 further comprises a top strap 10 and a bottom strap 10. Top strap 10 is mechanically coupled to right durable strap 14 and left durable strap 14. Likewise, bottom strap 10 is mechanically coupled to right durable strap 14 and left durable strap 14.

Right durable strap 14 is mechanically coupled to at least one horizontal strap 10 by heavy duty stitching where at least one horizontal strap 10 is further mechanically coupled to right strap 10 by stitching 12. Likewise, left durable strap 14 is mechanically coupled to at least one horizontal strap 10 by heavy duty stitching where at least one horizontal strap 10 is further mechanically coupled to left strap 10 by stitching 12.

In the preferred embodiment, straps 10 are made from elastic webbing. Stitching 12 is made from a heavy duty thread stitching, cross stitching 16 is made from a heavy duty thread cross-stitching. Durable strap 14 can be made from a variety of materials including webbing, leather and/or vinyl which is thicker than straps 10.

FIG. 2 shows web assembly 24 with glove 18 covering ball 20. Right durable strap 14 is covered with a hook fastener with heavy duty stitching and left durable strap 14 is covered with a loop fastener with heavy duty stitching. In this manner, a user can wrap web assembly 24 around glove 18 holding ball 20 and affix right durable strap 14 to left durable strap 14 with a hook and loop fastener. This forms glove 18 as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show glove 18 holding ball 20 wrapped by web assembly 24. One advantage over the prior art is that the stitching 12 can slightly deform and stitching 16 can deform to a lesser extent to put pressure on glove 18 in a manner contrary to the prior art. The prior art solution is to use a series of individual straps to put pressure on different points of glove 18. This assumes that a user is able to calibrate the tension necessary in each strap without any sort of measuring. Embodiments of the present invention removes this guesswork by simply having straps deform as needed to form glove 18. Further, the inconsistent nature of individual strap tensions exacerbates a user's ability to maintain the contour of glove 18. Embodiments of the present invention solves that problem with a consistent applied web assembly 24.

Embodiments of the present invention involve a plurality of horizontal straps mechanically coupled to a plurality of vertical straps that can be wrapped around a baseball glove or a softball glove to make and maintain a contour of the baseball glove or the softball glove.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A web assembly configured to make and maintain a contour of a baseball or softball glove; the web assembly comprising: a plurality of horizontal straps comprising a top strap and a bottom strap mechanically coupled to a plurality of vertical straps comprising a left durable strap and a right durable strap; the top strap is attached to the left durable strap and the right durable strap; the bottom strap is attached to the left durable strap and the right durable strap; the right durable strap is mechanically coupled to at least one horizontal strap where the at least one horizontal strap is further mechanically coupled to the right durable strap; the left durable strap is mechanically coupled to the at least one horizontal strap by heavy duty stitching where the at least one horizontal strap is further mechanically coupled to the left strap; the right durable strap is covered with a hook fastener and the left durable strap is covered with a loop fastener; wherein a user can wrap the web assembly around the glove and affix the right durable strap to the left durable strap with a hook and loop fastener, and allowing for the straps to deform slightly to make and maintain the contour of the glove.
 2. The web assembly of claim 1, the plurality of horizontal straps are mechanically coupled to the plurality of vertical straps by heavy duty cross-stitching; the plurality of horizontal straps are mechanically coupled to the right durable strap and the left durable strap with heavy duty stitching; the right durable strap is affixed to a hook fastener with heavy duty stitching and the left durable strap is affixed to a loop fastener with heavy duty stitching; the plurality of horizontal straps and the plurality of vertical straps are otherwise lined with heavy duty stitching allowing for greater and more consistent deformation of the straps to better make and maintain the contour of the glove. 